Identify and Describe Positive and Negative Reinforcement, Positive and Negative Punishment, the Different Schedules of Reinforcement, Discriminative Stimuli, and Shaping
In today's up beat, fast paced way of life it is through a thing called associative learning that we survive. Associative learning simply means that we learn that two events go together. We learn certain things occur together through things like reinforces and punishments.
There are two types of reinforcement, positive and negative. Positive reinforcement is defined in our text book as, "a stimuli that strengthens a response by presenting a typically pleasurable stimuli after a response." In simpler terms this means to reinforce a behavior you add a reward when ever this behavior occurs. A good example of positive reinforcement is paying someone to do a service for you such as painting your house or mowing your lawn.
The second type of reinforcement is negative reinforcement. Our text book defines negative reinforcement as, "a stimuli that strengthens a response buy reducing or removing something negative. This means that you do something to end an undesirable experience. A good real world example of this is taking pain killers to take away pain. Another good day to day example is putting on your seat belt to end the loud beeping noise that sounds when drivers do not wear seat belts in newer vehicles. Below is a chart giving an example of an experiment done with a rat designed to promote a certain behavior through positive and negative reinforcement.
There are two types of reinforcement, positive and negative. Positive reinforcement is defined in our text book as, "a stimuli that strengthens a response by presenting a typically pleasurable stimuli after a response." In simpler terms this means to reinforce a behavior you add a reward when ever this behavior occurs. A good example of positive reinforcement is paying someone to do a service for you such as painting your house or mowing your lawn.
The second type of reinforcement is negative reinforcement. Our text book defines negative reinforcement as, "a stimuli that strengthens a response buy reducing or removing something negative. This means that you do something to end an undesirable experience. A good real world example of this is taking pain killers to take away pain. Another good day to day example is putting on your seat belt to end the loud beeping noise that sounds when drivers do not wear seat belts in newer vehicles. Below is a chart giving an example of an experiment done with a rat designed to promote a certain behavior through positive and negative reinforcement.
In the world of psychology reinforcement is not always continuous and constant. It often is administered at different paces. The rate at which it is administered is called a reinforcement schedule. There are four different types of schedules, Fixed- ratio schedules, Variable-ration schedules, Fixed-interval schedules, and Variable-interval schedules.
A fixed ratio-schedule reinforces behavior after a certain set number of responses. A good example we encounter in our day to day lives is when establishments such as Cabin Coffee or Pancheros give us a free coffee or burrito for so many set amount of purchases.
The next type of schedule is variable-ratio schedules. Variable-ratio schedules give us a reward for an unpredictable amount of responses. A good example of this is when people play slot machines at casinos. Variable ratio schedules produce produce a very high rate of response because, as reinforcers increase as the number of responses increase.
The third type of reinforcement schedules are fixed-interval schedules. Fixed-interval schedules reinforce the first response after a fixed time period. An example of this would be when people check their mail box frequently when the date of their package is supposed to arrive is close. Fixed-interval schedules tend to produce a "choppy stop start pattern" opposed to a constant rate of growth.
The fourth and last type of schedules are variable-interval schedules. Variable-interval schedules reinforce the first response after varying time intervals. This is very similar to fixed interval schedules, but instead of checking many times at random you check at set time intervals. An example of this would be checking your mail box every day once a day till your package arrives. This type of reinforcement schedule generally produces a slow steady growth. Below is a chart of the four different types of reinforcement schedules.
A fixed ratio-schedule reinforces behavior after a certain set number of responses. A good example we encounter in our day to day lives is when establishments such as Cabin Coffee or Pancheros give us a free coffee or burrito for so many set amount of purchases.
The next type of schedule is variable-ratio schedules. Variable-ratio schedules give us a reward for an unpredictable amount of responses. A good example of this is when people play slot machines at casinos. Variable ratio schedules produce produce a very high rate of response because, as reinforcers increase as the number of responses increase.
The third type of reinforcement schedules are fixed-interval schedules. Fixed-interval schedules reinforce the first response after a fixed time period. An example of this would be when people check their mail box frequently when the date of their package is supposed to arrive is close. Fixed-interval schedules tend to produce a "choppy stop start pattern" opposed to a constant rate of growth.
The fourth and last type of schedules are variable-interval schedules. Variable-interval schedules reinforce the first response after varying time intervals. This is very similar to fixed interval schedules, but instead of checking many times at random you check at set time intervals. An example of this would be checking your mail box every day once a day till your package arrives. This type of reinforcement schedule generally produces a slow steady growth. Below is a chart of the four different types of reinforcement schedules.
As I mentioned earlier there is more than just one way to reinforce a behavior. Another method is punishment. There are two types of punishment, positive punishment and negative punishment. We will go into positive punishment first.
In Psychology Tenth Edition in Modules positive punishment is defined as, "administering an aversive stimulus." This means that you will receive a "punishment" for displaying a behavior that is undesirable. An example of this is a police officer administering a ticket to a driver for speeding. This punishes you for the act of speeding and deters you from doing it in the future.
The second and last type of punishment is negative punishment. In the text book negative punishment is defined as, "a withdraw of a rewarding stimulus." This means that an desirable thing that brings pleasure will be withdrawn to promote a behavior. A good example of this is when a us teenagers get our vehicles taken away for disobeying our parents. Below is a chart with both reinforcement and punishment. In this example punishment and reinforcement are applied to dog training.
In Psychology Tenth Edition in Modules positive punishment is defined as, "administering an aversive stimulus." This means that you will receive a "punishment" for displaying a behavior that is undesirable. An example of this is a police officer administering a ticket to a driver for speeding. This punishes you for the act of speeding and deters you from doing it in the future.
The second and last type of punishment is negative punishment. In the text book negative punishment is defined as, "a withdraw of a rewarding stimulus." This means that an desirable thing that brings pleasure will be withdrawn to promote a behavior. A good example of this is when a us teenagers get our vehicles taken away for disobeying our parents. Below is a chart with both reinforcement and punishment. In this example punishment and reinforcement are applied to dog training.
Thus far I have only gone over two ways one can get desired responses in associative learning. These two are not the end all and be all in associative learning. There is another method called shaping. In the text book shaping is defined as, " an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. Our book gives an example where a Gambian giant pouched rat which has been shaped to sniff out land mines is given a piece of banana when it sniffs out land mines during training in the African country of Mozambique.
When we humans attempt to shape nonverbal animals the question often arises if the animal can perceive. If the given animal will respond to a certain stimuli and not another we know they can distinguish or as it's called in psychology discriminate. In 1964 Herrnstein & Loveland performed an experiment with pigeons. In their experiment they conditioned the pigeons to peck when they see a human face. Through this experiment we know that pigeons can recognize a human face. In this particular experiment the human face is what is being discriminated against.
In this objective I have covered a lot of information and it is tough to post links on all of the previously explained topics so I will pick what I believe to be the toughest two. The first link is about shaping. I have posted a link to a youtube video discussing shaping. The second link also goes to a youtube video. For the topic of my second link I chose reinforcement schedules. I do not think it is necissarily a hard concept to understand, but it is such a big topic, and contains a lot of information.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3rzR62L6zM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWScp3Hz6sI
When we humans attempt to shape nonverbal animals the question often arises if the animal can perceive. If the given animal will respond to a certain stimuli and not another we know they can distinguish or as it's called in psychology discriminate. In 1964 Herrnstein & Loveland performed an experiment with pigeons. In their experiment they conditioned the pigeons to peck when they see a human face. Through this experiment we know that pigeons can recognize a human face. In this particular experiment the human face is what is being discriminated against.
In this objective I have covered a lot of information and it is tough to post links on all of the previously explained topics so I will pick what I believe to be the toughest two. The first link is about shaping. I have posted a link to a youtube video discussing shaping. The second link also goes to a youtube video. For the topic of my second link I chose reinforcement schedules. I do not think it is necissarily a hard concept to understand, but it is such a big topic, and contains a lot of information.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3rzR62L6zM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWScp3Hz6sI